Search and Rescue Team (SRT)

Operating from Station 19 Croxteth Community Fire Station, the MF&RS SRT is a
team of highly trained personnel who respond in support of operational crews to
all technical rescue incidents. This type of incident includes road traffic
collisions (RTC) involving entrapments and heavy vehicle incidents. The SRT was
the first such dedicated team of its kind in the United Kingdom (UK) and is now
the model for numerous Fire and Rescue Services as they look to develop their
own similar teams. The team staff a specially modified fire appliance which
carries specialist equipment for a variety of incidents. In addition, the team
have access to a demountable pod which carries further heavier rescue equipment.

Technical Rescue incidents include:

Water rescue - the team are all swift water technicians and rescue boat
operators and capable of utilising a variety of assets at incidents including
several rigid inflatable boats, jet skis and a hovercraft.

Rope rescue - all the team are rope rescue operators and give the Service an
additional capability for rescues from height or depth over and above that
available with Rope Access Gear (RAG).

Mud/ice - large animal, and confined space rescues. Additionally, the team
provide training support to the Training and Development Academy's Technical
Rescue Department.

The SRT work a self-rostering duty system with ten personnel on duty at any one
time. There is also a resilience of five personnel on call at all times to
respond if required should the on duty team be involved in a protracted incident. This
ensures a technical rescue response constantly available to the county. As
part of the Government's Urban Search And Rescue (USAR) strategy (see New
Dimension), all members of the SRT are also USAR technicians, forming one of the
21 USAR teams in the country. As such the ten personnel on duty can be
deployed, if requested, to any major incidents throughout the UK. The Search and
Rescue Canine Team is an integral part of this response and since the SRT
inception has been deployed to numerous incidents including building collapses
and major flooding.